Biography

This is Xiaojin Zheng. As a geoscientist, I study clay minerals across multiple length scales. I apply fundamental concepts in geomechanics, geochemistry, and geophysics to understand the properties of different geomaterials in the Earth's subsurface (including rocks, minerals, sediments, faults, and other porous or fractured media) using both experimental and computational methods. The scales I examined extends over 12 orders of magnitude from nanometers to kilometers. For example, I study clay structure and dynamics on atomistic levels, how clayey rocks impact fluid transport in the laboratory, and in the regional scale, how clay traps various geofluids (including carbon dioxide, water, and hydrocarbons). Modeling such a wide range of length scales on clay is unique and has never been resolved so far. The applications of my research extend broadly in the field of sustainable geo-energy and geoengineering, including carbon sequestration, unconventional hydrocarbon exploration, gas hydrate, geothermal energy, and nuclear waste containment. 

I am currently a postdoctoral researcher in the Interfacial Water Group, headed by Professor Ian C. Bourg, in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Princeton University. I obtained my B.S. and M.S. in Petroleum Engineering from China University of Petroleum at Beijing in 2014 and 2017. In 2021, I received my Ph.D. in Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin, under the supervision of Professor D. Nicolas Espinoza. 

I am currently an associate editor of Deep Underground Science and Engineering and Rock Mechanics Bulletin, and a guest editor of Frontiers in Energy Research, Geofluids, and Geosciences. I also serve as a reviewer for 16 journals including Applied Clay Science, Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences, Journal of Petroleum Science & Engineering, etc.